The Ghosts of Belfast

Fegan has been a "hard man" - an IRA killer in Northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being haunted day and night by 12 ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims. In order to appease them, he's going to have to kill the men who gave him orders. As he's working his way down the list, he encounters a woman who may offer him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an outsider too.

Those We Left Behind: The Belfast Novels

Blood has always been thicker than water for two Northern Irish brothers caught in the Belfast foster system, but a debt of past violence will be paid not just by them but also by those they left behind. Ciaran Devine, who made Belfast headlines seven years ago as the "schoolboy killer", is about to walk free. At the age of 12, he confessed to the brutal murder of his foster father; his testimony mitigated the sentence of his older brother, Thomas, who was also found at the crime scene, covered in blood.

The Cold, Cold Ground

Adrian McKinty was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction.

Hidden River

Alexander Lawson is a former detective for Northern Ireland's police force. After a disastrous six-month stint in the drug squad, he became addicted to heroin and resigned in disgrace. Now 24, sickly, and on the dole, Alex learns that his high-school love, Victoria Patawasti, has been murdered in America. Victoria's wealthy family sends Alex to Colorado to investigate the case, and he seizes the opportunity for a chance at redemption.

Ratlines

Ireland 1963. As the Irish people prepare to welcome President John F. Kennedy to the land of his ancestors, a German national is murdered in a seaside guesthouse. Lieutenant Albert Ryan, Directorate of Intelligence, is ordered to investigate. The German is the third foreigner to die within a few days, and Minister for Justice Charles Haughey wants the killing to end lest, a shameful secret be exposed: the dead men were all Nazis granted asylum by the Irish government in the years following World War II.

Dead I Well May Be

Young Michael, an illegal immigrant escaping the troubles in Northern Ireland is strong and fearless and clever, just the fellow to be tapped by Darkey, a crime boss, to join a gang of Irish thugs struggling against the rising Dominican powers in Harlem and the Bronx. The time is pre-Giuliani New York, when crack rules the city, squatters live furtively in ruined buildings, and hundreds are murdered each month.

Fifty Grand: A Novel of Suspense

An illegal immigrant is killed in a hit-and-run on a frozen mountain road in the town of Fairview, Colorado. No one is prosecuted for his death and his case is quietly forgotten. Six months later another illegal makes a treacherous run across the border, barely escaping with her life. She finds work as a maid and, secretly, begins to investigate the death of her father. But she isn't a maid, and she's not Mexican.

Falling Glass

Richard Coulter is a man who has everything. His beautiful new wife is pregnant, his upstart airline is undercutting the competition and moving from strength to strength, his diversification into the casino business in Macau has been successful, and his fabulous Art Deco house on an Irish cliff top has just been featured in Architectural Digest. But then, for some reason, his ex-wife Rachel doesn’t keep her side of the custody agreement and vanishes off the face of the earth with Richard’s two daughters. Richard hires Killian, a formidable ex-enforcer for the IRA, to track her down before Rachel, a recovering drug addict, harms herself or the girls.

The Sun Is God

Colonial New Guinea, 1906: A small group of mostly German nudists lives an extreme back-to-nature existence on the remote island of Kabakon. Eating only coconuts and bananas, they purport to worship the sun. One of their members, Max Lutzow, has recently died, allegedly from malaria. But an autopsy on his body in the nearby capital of Herbertshöhe raises suspicions about foul play.

Dallas Noir

My favorite line in my favorite song about Dallas goes like this: Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes / A steel and concrete soul in a warm heart and love disguise... The narrator of Jimmie Dale Gilmore's perfect tune Dallas" is coming to town as a broke dreamer with the bright lights of the big city on his mind. He's just seen the Dallas cityscape through the window of his seat on a DC-9 at night. Is he just beginning his quest?

The Trespasser: A Novel

Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.

The House Sitter: Peter Diamond, Book 8

The corpse of a beautiful woman, clad in only a bathing suit, is found strangled to death on a popular Sussex beach. When she is finally identified, it turns out she was a top profiler for the National Crime Faculty who was working on the case of a serial killer. And though she was a Bath resident, the authorities don't want Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond to investigate the murder. How strange. What could they be trying to hide?

The Traitor's Story

When fifteen-year-old American Hailey Portman goes missing in Switzerland, her desperate parents seek the help of their neighbor, Finn Harrington, a seemingly quiet historian rumored to be a former spy. Sensing the story runs deeper than anyone yet knows, Finn reluctantly agrees to make some enquiries. He has little to go on other than his instincts, and his instincts have been wrong in the past - sometimes spectacularly wrong.

Behind Dead Eyes

A corpse is found, its identity extinguished in the most shocking manner imaginable. Detective Ian Bradshaw can't catch the killer if no one can ID the victim. Out there, somewhere, a missing young woman may hold the answers. Journalist Helen Norton is about to uncover a massive criminal conspiracy. She just needs the final piece of the puzzle. Soon she will learn the price of the truth.

Friday on My Mind: A Frieda Klein Mystery

A bloated corpse turns up in the Thames, throat slashed, and the only clue is a hospital wristband reading "Dr. F. Klein". Frieda is taken to see the body and realizes with horror that it is Sandy, her ex-boyfriend. She's certain that the killer is Dean Reeve - the man who has never stopped haunting her. But the police think he has been dead for years, and Frieda is their number one suspect. With few options, Frieda goes on the run to save herself and try to uncover the truth.

The Hope That Kills: A DI Fenchurch Novel, Book 1

The body of a young woman is found on the streets of East London, in the shadow of the City's gleaming towers. No ID on her, just hard-earned cash. But there is no doubting the ferocity of the attack. DI Simon Fenchurch takes charge but, as his team tries to identify her and piece together her murder, they're faced with cruel indifference at every turn - nobody cares about yet another dead prostitute.

A Tapping at My Door

From the best-selling author of Cry Baby, the beginning of a brilliant and gripping police procedural series set in Liverpool, perfect for fans of Peter James and Mark Billingham. A woman at home in Liverpool is disturbed by a persistent tapping at her back door. She's disturbed to discover the culprit is a raven and tries to shoo it away. Which is when the killer strikes. DS Nathan Cody, still bearing the scars of an undercover mission that went horrifyingly wrong, is put on the case.

The Lighthouse Land: The Lighthouse Trilogy, Book 1

When Jamie’s mother inherits a small island and moves her little family from Harlem to Ireland, her troubled son sees a chance to start over, far away from the bullies and the pitying stares. Cancer has left Jamie without an arm or the will to speak. But Muck Island is no sanctuary, and it offers more than solitude and sea views. Jamie learns that he is heir to an ancient title—Laird of Muck, Guardian of the Passage—and certain otherworldly responsibilities.

Dead Lions

London’s Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “"low horses", as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. But now the slow horses have a chance at redemption. An old Cold War-era spy is found dead on a bus outside Oxford, far from his usual haunts. The despicable, irascible Jackson Lamb is convinced Dickie Bow was murdered. As the agents dig into their fallen comrade’s circumstances, they uncover a shadowy tangle of ancient Cold War secrets.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye: A Harry Bosch Novel, Book 21

Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves. Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir.

The Hanging Club

A band of vigilante executioners roam London's hot summer nights, abducting evil men and hanging them. Sentenced to death is the gang member who abused vulnerable girls, the wealthy drunk driver who mowed down a child and the hate preacher calling for the murder of British troops. As the bodies pile up and riots explode all over the sweltering city, DC Max Wolfe embarks on his most dangerous investigation yet: hunting a gang of killers whom many believe to be heroes....

Real Tigers

The Bond-esque River Cartwight and his group of defunct MI5 spies, headed by the irascible Jackson Lamb, will do anything to get back into the game. When a member of London's Slough House - MI5's stable for disgraced spies, so-called "slow horses" - is kidnapped by a former soldier bent on revenge, the agents must risk treason and breach Regent's Park to steal intel in exchange for their comrade's safety. But the kidnapping is only the tip of the iceberg as they are caught in a conspiracy that threatens the future not only of Slough House but of MI5 itself.

Dark Water: Detective Erika Foster, Book 3

When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child. The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news 26 years ago.

tmitch says:"i really love this series!! i have listened to all three books. i hope there is another one soon."

Runaway

Glasgow, 1965. Headstrong teenager Jack Mackay cannot allow for even the possibility of a life of predictability and routine. The 17-year-old has just one destination on his mind - London - and successfully convinces his four friends and fellow bandmates to join him in abandoning their homes to pursue a goal of musical stardom.

Publisher's Summary

From the LA Times Book Award-winning author of The Ghosts of Belfast, Stuart Neville, comes the exciting sequel: Collusion

Collusion returns listeners to Belfast, where a new mystery haunts its underbelly. Jack Lennon is a Detective Inspector trying to track down his former lover, Marie McKenna, and their daughter, but his superiors tell him to back off. Bull O'Kane is a bitter old man who will stop at nothing for vengeance. The Traveller is an assassin without pity or remorse, who stalks Belfast, tying up loose ends. Forced into the center of it all is former IRA paramilitary Gerry Fegan, who must confront his past - and The Traveller - for the fight of his life.

The early reviews for Collusion are just as strong as those for The Ghosts of Belfast. And Gerard Doyle's narration complements Neville's taut, sinister, smart, and suspenseful story perfectly. Collusion is a feast for thriller fans.

What the Critics Say

"Irish author Neville follows his stunning debut with an even more powerful tale of revenge, violence, and redemption. Neville rides the perfect Celtic storm in an action-packed, cerebral thriller." (Publishers Weekly)"James Ellroy and Val McDermid were among admirers of Stuart Neville's corpse-filled debut [The Ghosts of Belfast], and his follow-up Collusion is another mesmerising Belfast blood bath. The Traveller and O'Kane are memorably grotesque creations, and Neville's violent showdowns rival those in Jacobean revenge plays." (Sunday Times) "Collusion is a gripping thriller that transcends its genre through an unflinching examination of how 40 years of internecine strife has left unhealed scars that resonate in all levels of life in the North today." (Irish Independent)

"As it lurches toward its bloody conclusion, the chapters of Collusion shrink, the world contracts, and, ultimately, all that remains is survival. The question Mr. Neville raises with singularly artful drama is whether survival is enough to keep one going." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

"Doyle’s performance of Lennon’s grit and vulnerabilities gives credibility to both, and his portrayals of the brutal villains are downright terrifying." (AudioFile)

In his second outing, Neville proves that his terrific debut novel, The Ghosts of Belfast, was no fluke. This is a well written, carefully constructed thriller full of dark and dangerous characters. The storytelling and pacing are near perfect. This is a book that stays with you after you've finished listening to it.

Gerard Doyle's brilliant narration adds immeasurable texture and richness to the reading experience. With his work on the two Neville books, together with his equally outstanding narration of Adrian McKinty's Michael Forsythe trilogy, Doyle has firmly established himself as the narrator of choice for Irish noir.

In Collusion we meet Jack Lennon, a character who, although he didn't actually appear in Ghosts of Belfast, has a tremendous significance to many of the characters introduced in that novel. Lennon is deeply flawed and unlikable (he seems almost to relish testing the limits of the few friendships he enjoys), and yet there is something indefatigable and at the same time human about him that endears him to the reader.

All the surviving characters from Ghosts have returned, their continuing stories adding to the tapestry Neville has created with these first two novels. Not all of them will be appearing in the third.

This novel is gritty, and full of intriguing characters. It lacks the freshness of Ghosts, but makes up for it with a taut, gripping complexity. It is by no means necessary that readers visit Ghosts before reading Collusion, but it might be helpful.

Gerard Doyle is excellent. Despite being an American, his superb accent work made all the characters distinct.

I loved The Ghosts of Belfast so much that I pretty much had to get the sequel. It would be difficult to equal or better The Ghosts of Belfast; the somewhat-supernatural creep factor was so well done, and that paired with Gerard Doyle's narration made for a very intense and compelling listen. Collusion is more of a down-to-earth police procedural/thriller, with familiar plot twists. It felt formulaic. Gerry Fegan is a marvelous character, and it's good to know what happened to him after the first book. I'd say if you are compelled to know what happens next, listen to Collusion. But if you're looking for something close to as good as the first book and aren't really driven to follow this particular story, you could give this a pass.

Hard but not as brutal as the first part of this epic Irish crime adventure. Read Ghosts of Belfast first. Wait a bit, then finish the story with "Collusion". Again Gerard Doyle makes this experience greater than reading the novel. You will have flashbacks… They're worth it. This story is gripping.Enjoy…

Now… Spoiler Alert… Don't read any farther if you've not read this novel.

How the hell did the hero detective get outta that basement? Was their a chapter missing in my download? Somebody help!

I like Jack Reacher style characters regardless of setting. Put them in outer space, in modern America, in a military setting, on an alien planet... no worries. Book has non moralistic vigilante-justice? Sign me up!
(oh, I read urban fantasy, soft and hard sci-fi, trashy vampire and zombie novels too)

I read Ghosts of Belfast and enjoyed it so much that I immediately bought this book.

I have to start by admitting that I was slightly disappointed: the main reason I had liked Ghosts of Belfast so much was because of Gerry's character and the nature of his vigilantism. I had hoped this book would have the same tone, but it does not, quite... sure, it is still an action thriller, and the main characters act outside the rules, but Lennon certainly is not Gerry. And there isn't the twist/suspense as to whether or not the main character was sane.

The setting is the same as book one, and includes quite a bit of Irish politics. I think a lot of the tension in the novel is based on these "Troubles". Being North American, I am not familiar with the setting, and likely did not appreciate the situation as much as I would have if I were familiar with this background (i.e. Lennon being a Catholic cop seems to be a "bad" thing for his generation, but I am not sure why, exactly).

Anyway, there is just enough of Gerry in the story for the author to be able to add Gerry's name to the blurb. This story is really about Lennon, and Bull needing to get revenge for being injured in book one. There is a lot of violence, perhaps a bit more violence than in book one - believe it or not - but for the most part it is not gory, and it fits the story. The 'bad guy' here, though, is a bit too much... he is a step more powerful, stronger, faster, etc, than even Gerry was and, since this is not supposed to have a supernatural tone to it, it was perhaps just a bit too much... nobody is that perfect, especially when they are so badly injured that most people wouldn't be able to defeat their great grannies in a fight.

All in all though? It is a fast paced action thriller where the bad guys get their just desserts in the end - sorta. I will read the next in the series, but I really do miss Gerry as the star of these novels. Even though the accents can be a bit tough to follow, the narration is good. There are, however, a lot of 'mouth sounds' from the narrator... it wasn't annoying, but it was noticeable.

Gerard Doyle makes this book just as he did the first novel in this series, The Ghosts of Belfast. He is simply superb. He manages Irish accents, differentiates characters and keeps the story moving brilliantly. Thirteen was an incredible book. It would be hard for Neville to match it. This is a good book but not quite as good as the first one. And for readers who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the plot of The Ghosts of Belfast this novel will be uninterpretable. Almost all of the action in Collusion stems from incidents and characters in the first book, and not a lot of explanation is provided for the novice reader. Neville is the best at writing short, action packed chapters that switch points of view among characters. He is a pleasure to listen to. If Doyle reads his next one, I will for sure be a listener.

For all those who suffered withdrawal symptoms after reading Adrian McGinty's trilogy of violence and revenge, fear not, for here is Stuart Neville, promising to keep you on the edge of your seat or driving around the block. This is the sequel to Ghosts of Belfast, which should be read first. Gerard Doyle, as always, is terrific.

I loved Collusion and The Ghosts of Belfast. Pretty rough and gritty and read really well by the narrator. the only negative is the mouth noises in Collusion were quite bad at times. After listening to Ghosts of Belfast, I wonder if this is an Audible problem with editing, as the first book was narrated beautifully. Still it wasnt so bad i couldnt finish it. I hope Stuart Neville keeps writing more books like this.

In the first book, there was a mystery about whether the ghosts were real or just a madman's delusion which gave an interesting spin to a very violent story -- I enjoyed it a great deal and bought this (foolishly) without reading reviews. This sequel was just a long tedious slog through the squalid lives of characters I never want to "meet" again. How to make it better? Come up with another interesting original idea instead of wringing the last drops of bile from a story whose best part was already told.

Would you ever listen to anything by Stuart Neville again?

Not without reading a lot of glowing reviews beforehand. He clearly has talent but ths was awful.

When deciding on which book book I wanted to spend my credit on I was choosing between Adrian Mcginty follow up to Cold Cold Ground or Stuart Nevilles Ghost of Belfast. I like the way Mcginty tells a story using time, place, and politics as the backdrop to really enhance the plot. However, I liked the story that Neville was telling.This book takes place in the aftermath of the Ghosts of Belfast where more than one corrupt faction does not want to let it go.Our anti hero,Fagan, was trying to get justice for the people he had killed. He was a young man literally haunted by past and one wee girl Ellen McKenna, helped him find some redemption. Now someone is after everyone involved in "the feud" and it is up to Fagan and Ellen's father DI Lennon to keep her safe. This book contained a lot of action and suspense along with heart. It is also beautifully narrated by Gerard Doyle. . Also if you like Nevile books you might also enjoy Adrian McGinty. They are both narrated by Gerard Doyle who has to be my favorite narrator.

Would you consider the audio edition of Collusion to be better than the print version?

never read the print version but loved this book

What was one of the most memorable moments of Collusion?

all of it

What about Gerard Doyle’s performance did you like?

Gerard Doyle was the perfect narrator i suppose that's why the chose him. the story was very good but as with any audiobook, the narrator can make or break the story. i have downloaded all Aidrian Mac Kintys books and enjoyed every one of them.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

laugh, yes

Any additional comments?

Mac Kinty and Doyle, great combination.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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